United States v. Santiago

Decision Date07 February 1964
Docket NumberNo. 276,Docket 28021.,276
Citation327 F.2d 573
PartiesUNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Lee SANTIAGO, Defendant-Appellant.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Joseph I. Stone, New York City, for defendant-appellant.

Daniel R. Murdock, Asst. U. S. Atty. Southern District of New York, New York City (Robert M. Morgenthau, U. S. Atty., and Neal Hurwitz, Asst. U. S. Atty., on the brief), for appellee.

Before LUMBARD, Chief Judge, and SWAN and SMITH, Circuit Judges.

LUMBARD, Chief Judge.

Lee Santiago appeals from a judgment of conviction for receiving, concealing, and facilitating the transportation and concealment of illegally imported heroin, 21 U.S.C. §§ 173-174. The judgment was entered in the Southern District of New York after a two-day trial before Judge Cooper, sitting without a jury. During the hearing of a motion to suppress evidence allegedly obtained through an illegal search and seizure, trial was begun on the indictment and the parties stipulated that all evidence heard on the hearing would be adopted at trial.

The defendant raises two claims on appeal, first that the government failed to establish probable cause to support her arrest, which was made without a warrant, and second, that the district judge improperly failed to direct the government to disclose the identity of an informant, whose information led ultimately to her arrest.

A brief survey of the essential facts leading to the arrest of the defendant shows that her claims are without merit. In early April 1962 Narcotics Agent Panella was told by an informer that the defendant and another woman were selling narcotics along upper Broadway in Manhattan. The informer described the two women as well as the defendant's Oldsmobile car. Subsequently, this information was corroborated by several other informers who had been found in the past to be reliable.

Agents Panella and Cockerill thereafter searched the records of the New York City Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, which revealed defendant's two prior state narcotics convictions and one arrest in January 1962 by state enforcement officers for possession of narcotics with intent to sell. Between April 10 and April 19 the agents conducted surveillance of the defendant's activities, following her on four or five occasions as she traveled about the upper Broadway vicinity in her Oldsmobile. The agents saw her meet with a number of known narcotics addicts. Usually after talking to the addict she returned to her car and then went back to the addict on the sidewalk. Throughout this period the agents could observe no narcotics passing from the defendant to the addicts.

About 1:30 A.M. on April 25 agents Panella and Cockerill again followed the defendant as she drove slowly several times around one upper eastside block until she met and spoke with an unidentified male on one corner. Thereafter they observed the defendant drive slowly along Broadway between 72nd and 86th Streets several times and later enter two restaurants described in the testimony of one agent as "notorious hangouts for drug addicts."

About 4:30 A.M., as the defendant was about to drive into a gasoline station near her apartment, the agents arrested her, without a warrant. Agent Cockerill found a glassine package containing about one-half ounce of heroin in a fold in the convertible top of the car.

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22 cases
  • United States v. Davis
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit
    • 31 Mayo 1972
    ...of the speed with which narcotics can be dispersed or destroyed, agents must be able to move as quickly as possible. United States v. Santiago, 327 F.2d 573 (2d Cir. 1964). The law in effect, recognizes that whenever the Government attempts to control narcotics and narcotics peddlers, it is......
  • United States v. Squella-Avendano
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit
    • 25 Agosto 1971
    ...standard." 361 U.S. at 100, 80 S.Ct. 168. 13 See, e.g., United States v. Soyka, 394 F.2d 443 (2d Cir. 1968); United States v. Santiago, 327 F.2d 573 (2 Cir. 1964); Williams v. United States, 260 F.2d 125 (8th Cir. 1958), cert. denied 359 U.S. 918, 79 S.Ct. 596, 3 L.Ed.2d 14 See, e.g., Carlo......
  • U.S. v. Bell
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit
    • 1 Noviembre 1974
    ...v. Cappabianca, 398 F.2d 356, 359 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 935, 89 S.Ct. 294, 21 L.Ed.2d 271 (1968); United States v. Santiago, 327 F.2d 573, 575 (2d Cir. 1964); United States v. Rosario, 327 F.2d 561, 564 (2d Cir. 1964);Cochran v. United States, 291 F.2d 633, 636-637 (8th Cir. 196......
  • United States v. Blair
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York
    • 26 Noviembre 1973
    ...United States, 387 F.2d 1019, 1022 n.2 (9th Cir. 1967). See, United States v. Jamison, 395 F.2d 716 (2d Cir. 1968); United States v. Santiago, 327 F.2d 573 (2d Cir. 1964); Williams v. United States, 334 F.Supp. 669 (S.D.N.Y.1971), aff'd, 463 F.2d 1183 (2d Cir. 1972). 6 United States v. Gonz......
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